Work Ethics
by lakariana
Summary: A post Season 9 idea. Heavy angst. Gibbs discovers the fallout from the explosion at the yard is worse than he could have ever imagined.


Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or its characters. I am just borrowing them.

Author's note: So the final hasn't even aired in the UK but I'm totally spoiled so I found myself writing this. It's never going to happen, but I can't turn off the muses. I hope you guys enjoy.

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Work Ethics

Gibbs' feet made a sharp clicking as he followed the idiot on the segway. The Iron Crypt had clearly been designed by someone with a fetish for plain shiny surfaces. Gibbs tapped the flash drive in his pocket, he was being paranoid but McGee had been severely injured ensuring the data survived the explosion at the yard; Gibbs would be dammed if he let it get lost walking down a corridor.

Curtis the cringe-worthy, turned and caught Gibbs patting his jacket. "Don't you worry Agent Gibbs," he said. "We house the best data encryption analysts. We'll crack whatever is on that little drive of yours. Although if it's so important why did you put on an encryption you couldn't break? I heard your guys have been trying to crack it for mon-" The glare Gibbs gave him made him shut up and jump back on his segway.

With a sigh Gibbs started to follow, but the open door he was next to drew his attention. The lights were dim but he could make out a figure hunched over the large computer display in front of him. A quiet steady clicking could be heard as the person's fingers flew over the keys of the keyboard. Gibbs gut clenched as he watched. Looking up he noticed Curtis had made it a fair way down the corridor assuming Gibbs was behind him.

Gibbs leaned into the room and flicked the light switch. The room was thrown into sharp contrast, the man at the computer terminal didn't even look up, he just kept on typing, his eyes fixed on the screen in front him. But Gibbs only needed to see the side of his face to recognise him.

"Tim?" His agent didn't react. Gibbs stepped further into the room trying to see his face properly. He looked terrible, his skin was sunken around his cheeks and there was patchy stubble covering his jaw. Medical equipment including an IV drip was arranged behind him. Although none of it seemed to be attached to his agent, it had clearly been used. All of this was awful, but nothing compared to the vacant lifeless eyes which flickered back and forth watching the symbols on the screen in front of him.

Gibbs couldn't grasp what he was seeing. He and DiNozzo had gone to the hospital McGee had been transferred to once the extent of his injuries had become apparent. DiNozzo had been nervous fiddling with the cast on his arm and babbling about the top five movies with a major character in a coma. Gibbs had just wanted to lay eyes on his agent, assure himself that McGee was not at death's door and if he was, to remind him he did not have permission to give up on life. But neither of them had got to see McGee that day. A regretful nurse had informed them that his family had had him transferred to a hospital closer to their home earlier that day. No amount of phone calls or emails had managed to track down his location. McGee's family had blamed NCIS for their son's injuries and had refused any further contact. It was difficult, but Gibbs had accepted it and life had gradually started moving on.

"Ah Agent Gibbs, got away from me there." Curtis spoke from the corridor. "That is a secure room you cannot be in there." Curtis glanced at McGee. "Ah don't worry that's just our newest member, he's like that all day every day. Put any problem in front of him and he will solve it. He always delivers results. But he's busy at the moment on some really top secret stuff so let's head on down the corridor-"

"Where did he come from?" Gibbs asked cutting him off.

"Ah, can't tell you that...you know..." He gave a big wink and a nose tap. "Agency stuff. Apparently he was in an explosion that basically lobotomised him. Pow! Right in his face. I don't really like him being here, you never know when these spas types will go off on one."

Fury curled in Gibbs' stomach and he moved further into the room. "Please sir." Curtis tried again. "Don't disturb him he's working on highly confidential material and you can't-"

"Step back Agent Gibbs." A strong voice cut off Curtis and stopped Gibbs in his tracks. The man standing at the door was tall and dressed in full Admiral's uniform.

"What is this?" Gibbs asked him.

The man shrugged. "He's finally being useful." He replied.

"Useful? What?... How could you?..." Gibbs' functional mute reputation had developed because he had always been careful about choosing which words to say. But for the first time in a long time he couldn't seem to form a sentence.

The admiral smiled. "He _was_ always telling me he wanted to be a robot when he grew up."

"He's your son!" Gibbs shouted. "How can you do this to him?" The tapping of keys continued in the background undisturbed by the two older men. Curtis must have disappeared on the admiral's arrival.

"What do you know about it?" Admiral McGee shouted in return. "He barely speaks to his family for years and then the next thing we get is a phone call from some doctor telling us he's a cabbage and will need us to care for him twenty four, seven. My wife was devastated, how can we live our lives like that? Where would we keep him in that sort of condition?"

Gibbs stared in amazement at the man in front of him. He found it difficult to believe that Tim's mother was devastated because of the effect to her own life. Then again, yesterday he would have found it difficult to imagine Tim's father saying the things he was saying now.

"Then that Dr Ryan woman appeared and suggested a solution." Gibbs froze, a cold hard feeling taking root in his gut. "I have to say I've never had time for PsyOps before." Admiral McGee continued. "Load of holistic nonsense. But then again you can't argue with results." He gestured towards Tim. "Just one week and he'd stopped making those pathetic noises and started following the commands on those blasted machines. No back talk. No opinions. No needs other than to help our forces fight the enemy. The perfect worker."

Admiral McGee took a step towards his son, a small expression of pride appearing on his face. That was the end for Gibbs. He stepped between his agent and the admiral and drew his gun. "Stop right there McGee." He commanded.

The admiral stopped and glared at him, silence filled the room. Silence? Gibbs turned his head, keeping his gun levelled at the older man. Tim had stopped typing and was staring at him. "Tim?" He asked. There was no reply.

The admiral laughed. "What are you doing? You think there's someone in there? He's just another one of these machines Gibbs. Leave him where he belongs."

The blank expressionless eyes gazing towards him nearly convinced him. But there was no way in hell he was going to leave Tim here. Even if the man he knew was gone he would always be more than a machine. "Gear Up McGee."

"Yes Boss." Tim replied. Gibbs saw the admiral flinch at the soft scratchy voice as Tim stood and started looking around his desk for something.

The burning anger was slowly building inside his chest but Gibbs forced it under control and put his gun away. Walking up to Tim he gently rested a hand on his shoulder but Tim took no notice continuing to search the floor around his desk. Thankfully Gibbs knew what he was looking for.

"McGee." He repeated firmly, the eyes flicked up for a second. "Your bag is in the car. Come on we'll go get it."

Gibbs turned away unsure if Tim would follow, but he didn't need to worry, Tim stayed two steps behind him as they walked out of the room and past the admiral. Both of them ignoring his presence completely.

...

Gibbs paced up and down in his front room. Tim was sat on the sofa staring at the floor. He hadn't made a sound since Gibbs had put him there. Gibbs waited, he needed to know more facts before any actions could be taken.

The front door opened suddenly and Dr Samantha Ryan breezed in, a big smile on her face which quickly fell when she noticed Tim.

"What did you do?" She asked Gibbs.

"What did _I_ do?" He asked, amazed at her audacity. "What did _you_ do Dr Ryan? And don't feed me some nonsense about giving him a role in society and the extent of his brain damage. I saw the sort of work you had him doing in that place, if his brain could manage that, it can manage to feed and dress himself."

"But not both."

"I said don't try it." Gibbs snapped.

"You brought me here for a confession Jethro? You're not going to get one." Ryan said.

"That's OK," Gibbs replied. "I only want to know one thing from you Ryan. Can you fix what you did?"

"Fix?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Don't make me repeat myself." Gibbs growled.

Ryan could tell she was in trouble. She had never seen Gibbs so angry and serious. She had known this would happen eventually but had figured she'd be done with this fling or whatever it was long before it became an issue. She turned and squatted down in front of Tim studying his face. The "programming and modifying" techniques they had conducted on Tim were experimental. No suitable test subject had been available, until the bomb at the yard. She had already received very positive reviews from multiple branches of the military and government agencies and was loath to undo any of her hard work. Maybe if she could convince Gibbs this was a lost cause.

"Tim." She said gently resting her hand on his knee. "Can you hear me Tim?" No response. She gave Gibbs her sincerest looking concerned expression. "Let me try something." She said.

Reaching for her bag she pulled out a small notebook computer and rested it on the table in front of Tim. Loading up a page of encrypted documents, she set it in front of him and Tim's eyes were immediately drawn to the screen. Reaching forward he began typing. "Tim." She said again resting her hands over his, but he continued typing as if she wasn't there.

"McGee Stop." Gibbs voice made Ryan jump. But more surprisingly Tim stopped typing and turned to look at his old Boss. Now that is interesting, she thought. Previous programming not removed by the modulation therapy? Maybe trying to solve this problem would be more useful than she had first appreciated. In fact if it was possible to install a base protocol, the overlaying programming could be turned off and on, maybe with a trigger command. It would only make these sorts of agents a much more powerful tool.

She turned to Gibbs trying to maintain her shock and hide her excitement. "Yes Gibbs." She said, "I think I have a few ideas that may work."

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Authors note: So there we are. A quick melodramatic one shot. (my favourite kind!) I'm really not sure about Ryan as a love interest, especially because she was part of operations to drive people insane when she was introduced to the show. But I think she would make an excellent mad scientist type villain and mixed with the hints that McGee's father is a severe character I can only hope for some full on angst next season. Thanks for reading


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